I think Henes is more fit than many are thinking. She was already back into 15:12 shape over 5 weeks ago at LA Grand Prix and has likely gotten in a good block after that since she only ran one 1500 between that race and the trials and 2 of the favorites are coming in with 10k of racing in their legs over the previous 8 days.
Her fast 10,000m was from last year, her time this year was only like 31:10 at the fast 10,000m race. And Valby ran sub 15 indoors, didn't she? And 14:52 a couple weeks ago. So not sure why you're making 15:12 5 weeks ago seem like it's a reason for her to beat Valby. A 10,000m five days after a 5,000m is plenty of time to recover. Might even be beneficial as the 10,000m pace will feel slow compared to the 14:50 she just ran.
I think it will be Kelati, Schweizer, Valby, and then a sizeable gap of 100 meters to anyone else by the end. If Valby runs another 30:50 ish with bonus points she should be in on ranking. Obviously a sub 30:40 would give her the standard.
The point was that the question with her is if she can get back or close to her fitness from last year in time. When she is fit she is just as good as Valby 14:47 vs 14:51 and 30:48 vs 30:50. The 15:12 5 weeks ago was simply a marker for where her fitness was then to be used in comparison to her competition for the team. 5 weeks is plenty of time to get in some more workouts and sharpen up.
I wasn't saying she will definitely make the team, i was just saying you shouldn't write her off because the last times we saw her she was clearly on her way back to fitness after her lung issues.
Amazing how 21 yr old Valby can fo full bore in the 5000m, will suffer zero fatigue in the 10000m, all after a full season of big efforts, and no one on here will question it. Let the wagon circling commence.
Amazing how 21 yr old Valby can fo full bore in the 5000m, will suffer zero fatigue in the 10000m, all after a full season of big efforts, and no one on here will question it. Let the wagon circling commence.
What makes you think zero fatigue? Her 14:51 at 5000 last week was only 1 second faster than she ran in March. And last week had MUCH better competition. I’m guessing she’s feeling it.
That being said, no one in NCAA gave her much competition so she was able to coast through pretty easily. This is the big leagues.
Zero fatigue? She has plateaued since at least Bryan Clay.
Do you realize a 16yr-old American high sophomore, not stationed at altitude, has run 15:26 this year? Valby is six years more physically mature and running only 35 seconds faster.
Valby needs to run smarter than she did in the 5000, where she just ran 2:58's almost the entire way; didn't force anyone else to lead, threw no surges in there, that's how you race instead of just pacing at a steady speed that was comfortable for her main competitors. She's fit and strong enough to run that way instead of setting it up for the last 800 where she had no chance at all. She only ran her last 1000 in 2:55...Jennings ran that over the barriers and water jump.
Zero fatigue? She has plateaued since at least Bryan Clay.
Do you realize a 16yr-old American high sophomore, not stationed at altitude, has run 15:26 this year? Valby is six years more physically mature and running only 35 seconds faster.
Actually, she ran a low 14:50’s indoor race seven months ago.
The record times are all within seconds of each other. She has plateued for a while now. Her running form has degraded somewhat over the past few months, and I don’t mean just ‘less pretty’. It sometimes looks borderline to what she was displaying spring 2023, (though not nearly that bad.)
Zero fatigue? She has plateaued since at least Bryan Clay.
Do you realize a 16yr-old American high sophomore, not stationed at altitude, has run 15:26 this year? Valby is six years more physically mature and running only 35 seconds faster.
Actually, she ran a low 14:50’s indoor race seven months ago.
Valby needs to run smarter than she did in the 5000, where she just ran 2:58's almost the entire way; didn't force anyone else to lead, threw no surges in there, that's how you race instead of just pacing at a steady speed that was comfortable for her main competitors. She's fit and strong enough to run that way instead of setting it up for the last 800 where she had no chance at all. She only ran her last 1000 in 2:55...Jennings ran that over the barriers and water jump.
Surges? Valby ran to her absolute limit. Do you think she would have had even a faster time throwing in energy-consuming “surges”?
Tell us the other natural college runner that can run record after record time, regardless of any seeming fatigue. They don't exist and you know it.
The ‘record after record’ times are all within seconds of each other, sort of like Leachman this past spring running record after record 2mile races, until she ran herself into injury.